Russia lashes out at Israel after plane downed in Syria attack

Bloomberg

Russia warned angrily it may respond to “hostile” actions by Israel after one of its military reconnaissance planes was downed mistakenly by Syrian forces fighting off an attack by Israeli warplanes.
The spike in tensions came a day after Russia called off a campaign against the last major opposition-held area in Syria, preventing for now an escalation in the seven-year war, after President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan reached a deal on Monday. Still, unlike a 2015 incident in which Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, sparking a yearlong breach in ties, the Kremlin gave no sign the latest episode would lead to broader consequences.
Since sending forces to support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2015, Russia has been a dominant player in the conflict, at times struggling to manage the competing interests of the other powers there. Russia has kept close ties with Israel, despite its regular attacks on the Moscow-backed regime in Syria.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu blamed Israel’s “irresponsible” actions for the death of the servicemen in a call with his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Liberman, on Tuesday, according to the ministry.
It said Syrian forces mistakenly downed the Il-20 reconnaissance plane with an S-200 air-defense missile as they attempted to fight off an attack by Israeli planes. Israel declined to comment.
Limited Impact
The plane’s loss probably won’t have a long-lasting impact, said Alexander Shumilin, head of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Middle East Conflicts. “It wasn’t a deliberate act and it wasn’t an Israeli strike that shot the aircraft down, it was a Syrian one.” Israel regularly attacks Iranian-backed targets inside Syria, with Russia usually refraining from any action.
The Kremlin is “extremely concerned” by the downing of the plane, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, but declined to comment beyond the Defense Ministry’s statement.
He said the episode won’t affect the “landmark” deal reached over Idlib on Monday.
The Syria pact with Erdogan came just over a week after Putin rejected the Turkish leader’s call for a ceasefire in the area and is the latest example of the Kremlin’s tense balancing act among the rival factions in the Syrian conflict.

Idlib Pact
With the regime closing in on Idlib, the last major opposition-held region, tensions among the outside powers involved in a crowded battle space have spiked. US President Donald Trump warned of a “human tragedy’’ and his aides threatened military action. Erdogan said an attack by Syrian forces and their Iranian backers would cause “a lake of blood.” That appears to have swayed Putin to back a compromise that at least puts off the offensive but shifts the burden to Erdogan to deal with the thousands of extremists holed up in the region.
The Turkish president has sent troops to Idlib, supports rebels there and is a fierce Assad opponent. That aligned him with the US earlier in the war. But after Russian intervention in 2015 turned the tide in Assad’s favor, Erdogan began to change course. In the past year he’s worked closely with Putin and Iran, Assad’s other main backer, on plans to end the war—while relations with the US deteriorated.